A Guide to Oculus Development

The Oculus Rift is one of the most exciting developments to happen in the gaming industry in recent times. Even the announcement of the PS4/Xbox One seemed pale compared to the potential that the Oculus Rift displayed in its short life of two years. People all over the world are excited about Oculus development because a new market is opening up, and whoever strikes early will make it big in this market. If you haven’t heard about the Oculus Rift, or if you’re not sure how to get started with Oculus development, then read ahead. We’ll get you up to speed about Oculus development and the promising world of the Oculus Rift.

The Oculus Rift is a virtual reality gaming headset developed by a company named Oculus VR. It was recently acquired by facebook in a deal worth $2 billion. And the craziest part is that the headset hasn’t even been released yet! Facebook obviously saw the long-term benefits of owning a piece of virtual reality technology. If you’re a game developer, or if you want to start developing games by hiring professionals, then you will certainly be very interested in learning about Oculus development.
First, you need to understand what virtual reality gaming is all about. Oculus development is primarily concerned with making new games or existing games compatible with the virtual reality capabilities of the Oculus Rift. In virtual reality gaming, or VR gaming for short, the player is able to achieve total immersion into the game. This means that the player will actually see himself/herself moving around in the game world, and any motion made in the real world will reflect in the same way in the virtual world. Think of it like Kinect gaming but in a first-person perspective (as opposed to the third person perspective offered by Kinect). The player will be in the game, instead of merely standing outside it or controlling a character with a joystick.

Oculus development concerns itself with making games as compatible with VR gaming as possible. So far more than a hundred games have been announced to be in various stages of development for the Oculus Rift. Oculus development isn’t a revolutionary improvement for game development, but rather a simple evolution of existing game development methods. All the tools required for even a beginner to learn are available, and it only takes time and perseverance to come up with a really good VR game. Actually, let us modify that statement a little. It takes time and perseverance, but developers are running short of time. The Rift headset will soon be launched to the public, and the development who speeds up the Oculus development process and comes out with a truly superb game will be the one to capture the early market share. The good news is that it is still not too late for new Oculus development teams to start working.

How to Develop for Oculus Rift

Oculus development is a very interesting process. It is a natural extension of the regular game development process. To begin with, you will need to order a development kit from the official website of the Oculus Rift. Visit www.oculusvr.com to order your development kit (DK2) and you will receive the hardware along with a starter kit to get you going. With the development kit in hand, you can test out all your Oculus development progress in real time on the Oculus Rift.

As for the development process itself, it will run along the lines of any regular game development. You will first require a proper game plan, and the resources to take the project from the beginning to the end. The game plan will list out the requirements for the game and will also give you clarity on various issues such as how many Oculus development staff you will require, and who should be put in charge of which department.

You may choose to start building your game for the Rift right from the beginning or you may choose to optimize it later in the project. Either way, you will have to be sure that the VR experience of the game is not hindered. Remember that people have played all sorts of games in nearly every imaginable genre. So when they come over to the Oculus Rift, they will be hungry for a new experience, and that is what Oculus development aims to deliver. If your game turns out to be a rehash of an existing game, simply shown in VR, then it will not gain the sort of appeal that you might be aiming for. That is why it is a good idea to constantly try out new ideas and test them out before deploying your project.

Oculus development requires talented game developers to make the VR experience truly believable. Thus everyone, from the programmers and artists to the designers, will have to be handpicked carefully. Of course, at this point almost no one has any previous experience in Oculus development, but the best developers always learn and adapt fast.

That was a brief introduction about the barebones necessities of Oculus development. Once you take upon a project you will discover many more details along the way, and will agree that the road to Oculus development is a very exciting one indeed.

In the next section, we give you a few ideas for Oculus development, just to get you started. Feel free to use these ideas for your own Oculus development, or modify them suitably for other projects. Oculus development is certainly easier once you have the right kind of ideas to build games with. So have a look at some of the wonderful opportunities that await you in the exciting new world of the Oculus Rift.

What to Develop for Oculus Rift

Oculus development does not begin until you have an idea about what you are going to develop. The one big idea that will make your game a hit. That is the key ingredient to Oculus development. Presented here are five quick ideas to get you started with Oculus development. You can potentially develop each of these ideas into a full-fledged game that will be sure to be a hit with the masses. Or you could add your own twist to these ideas and make them even bigger. This is entirely left to you.

VR Exploration Game
This is a simple concept which can be extended in several different ways. The game here is to allow the users to explore an environment and discover the hidden secrets in it. You could use this concept to build something like an ancient history world or a futuristic world. The world needs to be large enough to encourage player exploration. This sort of game is perfect for VR because it showcases the true power of the Oculus Rift. It would be a casual game, so the entire family could play this one, thus increasing the number of potential sales. Such a game could have other applications as well, such as in schools and museums, to allow people to explore a given point in time.

VR RPG Game
A role playing game is another natural fit for the VR gaming world. People simply love role-playing games, which allow them to immerse themselves in the life of an entirely unrealistic character. That is why RPG games like Skyrim are such huge hits. Incidentally, Skyrim is making its way to the Oculus Rift. You could get in on this craze too by using your Oculus development resources to make a realistic RPG game, that allows users to take upon the role of their choice and play an adventure for 20 or so hours, which is quite small by RPG standards. Oculus development of an RPG game however, is a challenging project, so you need to be prepared to put in more resources. However, the payout will be entirely worth it, so this would be a project with high returns.

VR Pokemon Clone
This is one of those silly ideas which might end up being a huge hit. Pokemon has been a gaming sensation for nearly two decades now. Yet it has been entirely restricted to the Nintendo gaming consoles so far. And Nintendo is not likely to license it out for Oculus development. So you could use the idea of a Pokemon game – pet monsters fighting each other for rewards – and turn it into a fully functional VR game. This shouldn’t take up too much of Oculus development resources, since most of the fights will be generated using the same assets over and over again. And since there are millions of Pokemon fans around the world, it will be easier to reach out to an audience with such a game, compared to releasing an entirely new IP. Oculus development will allow players to experience for the first time how a Pokemon trainer truly goes to battle.

VR Stunts
Virtual Reality allows gamers to have experiences that they would usually not have in real life. So you could put your time in to Oculus development and create a game that allows users to perform various death-defying stunts, in a virtual environment. Again, this might not be a traditional game per se, but a virtual experience that players will never forget. Imagine people who have fear of heights attempting to do a skydiving stunt from the safety of their homes. Such stunts will thrill people and give them a whole new perspective about games. Oculus development offers you the chance to create as many thrilling stunt scenarios as you want, and the player will be able to perform them in a fully safe environment. The success of stunt games on traditional gaming platforms is proof that people do enjoy playing such kind of games.

VR Driving Simulator
This is a plain old idea that has come out in the form of several games already. But in the world of VR, this is yet another opportunity to use the concept of a driving simulator and offer players a realistic driving experience. People who have never driven a car before will be amazed by the possibilities offered by such a simulator. It could even be used for official driving lessons. The possibilities are many. So this very simple idea could be a potentially huge money spinner. Just make sure that you put enough time into Oculus development for such a simulator to make it realistic and totally immersive. Although it will be a safe environment, the realism should remind people about the dangers on the road in real life.

The Potential of Oculus Development

As you have seen in this article, Oculus development offers the opportunity to work on several exciting ideas. Virtual reality is going to be the next big thing in gaming, and the next giant leap. Oculus development kits have already gone out across the world to several enterprising developers. You too can get in on the action if you act fast. This is a really high potential market that is yet untested, but offers immense promise. Who doesn’t like the idea of getting completely immersed in a virtual world? That is the dream that every gamer has when he/she picks up a joystick to play a game. Virtual reality and Oculus development offer you the chance to fulfil this dream for millions of gamers across the world. All you need to do is to pick up your own Oculus development kit, choose a brilliant idea to build a game upon, and then unleash the game upon the world.

The Oculus Rift will be releasing either in late 2014 or early 2015. That might not be enough time to develop a AAA title, but it is more than enough to come up with a small but truly effective title for the Oculus Rift. Oculus development isn’t just about the huge games but also about games with a heart. So get ready to take this opportunity and give Oculus development a good try.